Photo Gallery & Impressions 13d

PHOTO SAMPLER - HOLIDAY AT CHIANG
MAI, 10 AUGUST 2003 - PART D

Wat Doi Saket Murals. A
very distinctive feature of this wat are the 19 large individual paintings
placed high on the interior walls. We don't have much specific information to
share as the booklet we bought here had only a few sentences in English &
the kindly lady attendant spoke only Thai. We would guess the size of the
larger paintings to be about 8' x 11'. Done by a local monk in relatively
recent times, the style is Dali-esque in their impressive surrealism. The images
portray the struggles for enlightenment. Maybe in the future we can get more of
our booklet translated or discover more information about these paintings. For
now, they are presented in order as they appear in a clockwise direction from
the alter of Buddha images (a photo that didn't turn out). The only captions
will be those in English found in the booklet available in the temple.

#1

Balance Beyond Concentration. The scales here
represent the concentrated mind. Free from defilements, the scales balance
the stone of hate and the fiber of love, all the while poise in equilibrium
on a sharp point perched on the fragile leaf of a lotus.

The Wise Mind Perceives Truth. One who leads a moral
life with a wise heart and concentrated mind naturally perceives the truth.
The inner eye of awareness sees existence as endless, but in essence empty.
Such a person wearies of illusion and ceases to desire attachment,
understanding what should and should not be through simple wisdom rather
than moral force.

Scriptures Hide the Dhama.
Words and printed matter
cannot describe the truth. Few people attain the real truth represented by
the monks seated in the "heaven" above the scripture cabinet. This
truth can only be perceived through right practice. The figures climbing the
steps represent those who achieve rank through ultimately worthless
learning.

Image Hide the Buddha. People
worship the image of the Buddha from different epochs, but the real Buddha
is represented as something almost invisible, something almost completely
hidden by the external form of the image. It can only be found in the heart
of people who practice until they see only the reality (Dhamma) of life: it
is like a shining purity that purges all suffering.

Robes Hide Monks. The
yellow robes and the eight accoutrements of a monk can hide people who
practice in ways that do not follow the true path, that follow animism and
witchcraft. They may appear to be sincerely seeking the truth only to
deceive others in order to receive tribute. Real monks are bright, quiet and
pure, having escaped suffering.

Truth Beyond Desire and Ambition. A vast sea full of
animals representing good and bad thoughts in our minds is constantly
churned by the rage of emotions in our hearts. People ignorant of the real
nature of their emotions act according to inclination, but those who know
truth perceive that thoughts are illusionary and merely arise according to
habit. Such people are free from desire and understand that path to
enlightenment lies within.

Their Own Worst Enemy. Writhing
animals bite themselves because of their own ignorance. They cling to a
false sense of self survival buried deep in their hearts. This falsehood
influences them to do things to seek happiness that bring only pain and
suffering due to the power of lust, anger, and ignorant delusions. Thus they
are seen as biting Themselves to death.

Worldly Bondage. Spouses,
children, possessions and status bind people to worldly life. The destiny of
worldly existence is to reach the funeral pyre without finding the essential
meaning of life.

Defeating Mars
(illusion). When the
Buddha was meditating deep in the forest, the core of his being was
quivering with the residual powers of fear and love that bound him to his
family and his past. Through endurance and restraint he overcame these final
bonds of attachment - a scene of the earth with the demons of desire, anger
and ignorance.

Breaking Worldly Bonds. One who seeks true deliverance
sees happiness as without value, as merely causing infatuation which
ensnares one in the endless cycle of birth and death. Happiness is
temporary, but the law of cause and effect never cease. The seeker of truth
therefore breaks the fetters, setting his course on the one true path to
freedom.

Loving kindness Supports
the World. Pure love is
free. It distinguishes neither race nor language. When this kind of love
fills a person's heart, he or she can smile at anyone as a kindred friend.

Enlightening the Heart. Wisdom
comes from vigilance over mind and body, from studying the five concepts
which are form, sensation, perception, predisposition and consciousness -
and from watching their constant arising and falling, releasing that nothing
can be truly identified as self. The bright light of wisdom burns out the
defilement of one who practices. When there is no self for defilement to
attach to, impurities can not remain.

Prior Action Determine
Nature. Our mothers and
fathers beget our physical forms, what determines our true nature, whether
our perceptions and lives are base or wise, depends on our minds, our habits
and the accumulations from
previous actions, our hearts and minds are likened to flowering species the
evolve according to their nature. The full face represents someone who is
steady, hones and truthful and has wisdom in the heart - a result depicted
as a large tree that shelters and protects others. But delusion buried
deeply in themselves are represented as differing growths above faces half
hidden with prejudices of one kind or another.

Wisdom Beyond Passion. One
who has concentrated wisdom can stay in the world untouched by the
fires of worldly passion. Such a person does not falter in the face of the
temptation and disturbance of lust, anger, and delusion, but looks at
everything with a truthful eye. Thus everything that passes serves to
strengthen wisdom even further.

Merit Brings Its Own
Reward.
People who donate to temples with wisdom in their hearts will receive the
knowledge, jewels, protection and keys of the Dhamma.

Hooked On False Views. Mortals
are represented as different fish. The bait represents what we perceive as
the cycle of birth and death. When the fish takes the bait, it is hooked up
by the fisherman and put into the three worlds (baskets) of existence,
representing desire, form, and spirit. However the three baskets
continuously leak and fade back into the sea again, and so around
continuously.

The Temple Shines with
Truth. The name of this
picture was given at the request of the sponsor. The artist had named the
picture "Free from Theory." The figure in the picture, who is
neither man nor woman, sits steady and unwearing above a temple roof with
the light of truth shining overhead. Such a person is neither male nor
female, is beyond all definitions, and is apart from those who throw
themselves into the cycle of existence at the sides.